


Rick and Morty Against the World

by AwesomeMango7



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Angst, Beth is a bitch, Fluff, Kinda, Morty stops taking care of himself for a while, Morty’s Mindblowers, Rick actually cares, Rick to the Rescue, Summer is just... kinda there, hes still kinda mean, just a little bit though, morty is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 17:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15645603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AwesomeMango7/pseuds/AwesomeMango7
Summary: So you guys remember the Morty’s mindblowers episode, right? Of course you guys do. This is what happened after the part where Beth chose Summer over Morty in that one part where that weird alien dude told her she could save only one of her children.(One-shot. Please enjoy.)





	Rick and Morty Against the World

**Author's Note:**

> Bored at 2am and needed to do something so I finished writing this random one-shot. 
> 
> Also, here— if you have no clue what part of that episode I’m talking about, here’s the clip: https://youtu.be/AjXfr2_EBuw

There was a swirling vortex above them, lightning and thunder roaring from above as flashes of light littered across the red-tinted world. Morty and Summer were struggling valiantly against their binds inside the floating red-spiked bubbles.

Morty could feel his hands and feet growing numb as his restraints cut off their blood flow, and the gag over his mouth made him feel like he was suffocating. _How in the world were they going to get out of this one?_

They had gotten separated from Rick at some point, and then got captured due to their own ignorance. And the alien who captured them sure had a grudge against Rick. Morty didn’t know what the hell the grudge was about, but he made it very clear that he wanted to kill him and Summer, supposedly Rick’s ‘closest family members.’

Unfortunately, the alien didn’t know how pointless doing such a thing would be. Morty knew he and Summer meant nothing to Rick. It had pretty much always been that way.

But that didn’t matter right now. Morty had to figure out how to save everyone— _If_ he even _could_ do such a thing.

Beth looked pale, sitting on a chair of spikes, her hands also bound behind her back as she stared up at her children in complete horror.

And Morty just wished he could help her.

He couldn’t stand to see his mom like this, with her about to witness the death of her own children. He knew that one day he was bound to die on an adventure, and he’d excepted that, but he’d never thought that his mom would have to watch it. He didn’t want her to see something like that.

Summer was also in danger, and he couldn’t stand it. He just wanted them to be safe at home, like they usually always were when him and Rick were out on their dangerous adventure of the day. He would give pretty much anything to ensure that the two of them made it out of this _alive._

The alien paced across the ground, waking in Beth’s direction. “I’m not an unreasonable man, Beth smith,” He said, his arms folded behind his back. “I know children are everything to a mammal,” He stared at her with his singular eye. “I will spare one of their lives...” He stepped aside, gesturing to them both.

They both begin to struggle more, trying so desperately to scream, but being unable to.

Rage was boiling in Morty’s veins. He had never wanted to kill someone more in his life. _How could he ask his mom to make a decision like that? How could he force his mom to make that kind of horrid choice?_

The alien continued. “You simply have to choose—“

“SUMMER!” Beth said without an ounce of hesitation at all. “Summer...” She repeated, more confidently and less desperate.

Morty’s eyes widened, and his breathing came to a complete halt. His mind was spinning, hurt and fear crawling up his spine rapidly. His mother hadn’t even _hesitated_ as if the choice was just _that_ easy. Like picking candy over a raw, tasteless vegetable.

He could see Summer turn to look at him with the most horrified look he’d ever seen on her face from the corner of his eye. Even the alien looked shocked by how easily she chose, his brow rasing up on his head and his mouth dropping open slightly.

Morty felt what had to be the emotional equivalent of his mother stabbing him in the heart with a jagged knife, and then twisting it. Beth chose Summer to live and him to die— and she’d done so without even blinking. Morty couldn’t believe it.

_His own mother didn’t even love him..._

For some reason, that discovery hurt more than anything he ever felt before. He hadn’t ever even felt this bad when Rick said stuff that was particularly mean, or when he would carelessly put him in harms way. It hurt worse than when he was almost raped by a jellybean, or when he had to leave his original dimension. It hurt worse than when he found out that Rick didn’t need him for anything other than his brainwaves.

No, this hurt worse than all of that combined. How quick his own _mother_ was to sacrifice him. Morty had thought, that out of anyone he knew, his mother would always care about him despite everything.

But he was wrong... Beth didn’t care about him. No one cared about him.

_...no one cared about him._

 

_**And now he was gonna die.** _

 

He was just useless and dumb. Maybe he didn’t deserve to live. Maybe that’s why Beth didn’t care if he died or not.

Morty hated himself, he realized. His stupid stutters, annoying voice, and low IQ. He was too short, and too ugly. He wasn’t worth anything.

There was a brief pause as everyone stewed in the unexpected turn of events, which actually just so happened to be the perfect amount of time, because a portal suddenly formed from above and out dropped Rick in all of his crazed glory. He shot his weapon instantly, causing the alien’s head to explode and his body to tumble off the edge of the cliff.

Morty was in too much of a haze to really care that Rick was there, though. His heart ached so bad.

“You’re not gonna believe this, I went to Febe instead of Titan,” Rick explained his reason for being late, but Morty could hardly hear him. “It’s like, ‘hello Saturn, after ten moons, time to stop naming and start numbering,’ you know?”

No response came from anyone, and Rick narrowed his eyes as he glanced back at his grandkids, confused. “W-w-wha-what’s with you assholes?” He asked.

Still no response from anyone.

“W-what, not even a ‘thank you for saving us, Grandpa Rick’?” The scientist went on, looking back and fourth at their glum expressions.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Rick freed Summer, Morty, and Beth from their binds, and all of them were now safe, back at home.

The scientist knew that something was off, though. Everyone had been awfully quiet, even as they walked through the Portal. And Morty had this... _look_ on his face that Rick had never seen before. The teen looked like a fucking zombie— like he was dead, or something.

Beth and Summer had looked kinda down as well, but not nearly as down as Morty had looked.

Everyone left to their rooms without hardly a word, even Beth.

It was so foreign to Rick, and he asked himself what fucking tragedy he’d missed. What was making his entire family act like a bunch of anti-social vampires?

Instead of investigating, however, he simply shrugged it off. Everyone would be fine by tomorrow. That’s how things usually happened in this house— everyone gets put in a bad mood one day, and then the next day they’re fine.

He returned to the garage, planning on working on one of his new projects.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Three days passed. Summer and Beth had recovered completely, returned to their former chipper selves. Beth made dinner each night, and Summer was always there on her phone. They talked and smiled and joked around like normal. In fact, the two of them were happier than ever for some reason.

Everyone was happy again. All except for Morty.

The teen straight up refused to go on any adventures with Rick, yelling and pushing the old man out of his room whenever he’d try to drag him along. He wouldn’t come down for dinner, and he hardly left his room other than to use the bathroom.

When he’d asked Beth and Summer about it, they had quickly averted their eyes and changed the subject. All of it irked Rick.

Rick was getting tired of the teens shit. He hadn’t done anything to evoke this kind of reaction from the kid, and it was pissing him off.

So, somewhere around four in the morning, Rick decided to barge his way into the kids room, ready to have a stern talk with him.

When he threw the abused door open, he was surprised to see Morty sitting at his desk, doing something on his computer. The kid didn’t even flinch when Rick entered, let alone look up from the screen.

“Morty,” Rick said, running a hand through his blue hair. The kid looked _so_ tired, and he couldn’t imagine why the kid was up this late. He was usually an early sleeper, unless he was hanging out with Rick. “W-w-we gotta talk.”

“I a-already t-told you, Rick,” Morty said in a quiet voice. “I d-don’t wanna go on adventures anymore.” He hunched forward, getting closer to his computer screen.

Rick groaned in frustration, closing Morty’s door and then sitting down on the kids bed. “W-w-what—what the fuck is with all this angsty teenage bullshit, Morty? The hell is wrong with you?”

“N-nothing’s wrong with me...” Morty shrugged, still not looking away from his screen.

“T-then why the fuck are you not going on anymore adventures?”

There was a pause of silence.

“...Jus’ don’t feel like it...” Morty said so quietly Rick had to strain his ears just to hear it.

Rick’s eyes narrowed at Morty, glaring, even though the teen couldn’t see him. “W-would ya fuckin’ look at me when I’m talking to you?!” He barked.

Morty finally spun around to face him, a tried, worn down expression on his face. “What, Rick?” Morty ground out bitterly. “W-what could you possibly want from m-me right now? Why d-do I have to go on adventures with you? I-I’m just a useless piece of shit anyways— should probably just put me outta my misery now, and get a new Morty!” Tears were pooling in his eyes as he waved his hands up in the air in exasperation. “M-m-maybe y-y-you guys would all be better off with a different Morty, y-y-y’know, since I’m just the runt of the family that no one _actually_ cares about!”

“Morty, what t-t-the fuck are you talking about?” Rick stared at him, his mind racing with so many thoughts. _What the fuck crawled up his ass and died?_ “S-stop being such a drama queen, I mean, _Jesus,_ y-y-you’re taking this a little far, even for you, don’t’cha think?”

Morty glared at him, reaching a hand up to furiously wipe away his tears before they could fall. “J-just leave me a-alone, Rick...” He said brokenly, turning back to his computer screen.

Rick narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out why the fuck Morty was acting like this. _What had happened that day?_ “Morty,” Rick began again, clearing his throat. “W-What happened on t-that last adventure, buddy?” He asked. “W-w-why are you acting like this?”

Morty’s shoulders visibly tensed, all of his movements stilling. The kid even seemed to stop _breathing_.

“Y-y-you gotta talk— gotta communicate with me here, Morty,” Rick continued when the kid didn’t respond. “Y-y-you’ve been acting _real_ fuckin’ weird since that day.”

Morty still didn’t move or answer.

“Morty?”

Nothing.

Rick sighed, standing from the bed and waking over to the teen. He placed a hand on his shoulder, and Morty flinched. “Morty, _what happened?_ ”

“J-just... leave me alone, Rick,” Morty’s voice was shaking as he spoke. Rick looked at his computer screen, only to notice that it was just the desktop with nothing open. _Had the kid just been staring at the screen?_ “I just. Want. To be. Alone.” He punctuated each word sternly in an attempt to stop his voice from wavering so much. Unfortunately, it didn’t work very well.

Rick pushed at Morty’s shoulder, making his computer chair roll away from the desk and he turned Morty to face him. The kid didn’t put up any protests to being moved, but he didn’t look at Rick, instead staring down at his lap, where his hands were both balled into tight fists.

The blue haired scientist looked at him— _really_ looked at him. The kid looked exhausted. Heavy bags were under his eyes, and his hair looked like it hadn’t been brushed in days— all wild with strands sticking up at completely random angles and tangled. His eyes were red, from either crying or not sleeping— Rick didn’t know which. Maybe both. There were stains on his shirt, like he hadn’t changed it in days, and his whole body was shaking slightly.

Rick’s eyes softened, the glare on his face falling away into concern. “Christ, kid...” He murmured, reaching a hand up to run it through Morty’s tangled hair, trying to straighten it out a little. He definitely hadn’t showered in a while, but Rick didn’t care all that much. Morty wasn’t a particularly smelly kid, even when not showering for a couple days, or sweating a lot.

Plus, he’d be a hypocrite if he cared too much about it. Rick had gone for weeks without showering before due to certain circumstances.

Morty squeezed his eyes shut as Rick ran his hand through his hair, feeling self-conscious about the fact that he hadn’t showered in three days. His hair was gross and greasy, and Rick was touching it. Surely the old man noticed how gross he was, right? He had to have.

But nonetheless, he let Rick do his thing. He kept his eyes closed as Rick straightened his hair out, feeling his fingers run gently and expertly over his scalp. He leaned slightly into the touch for a moment, much like a cat, but quickly caught himself and stopped.

He hadn’t realized how much he was craving comfort from another person up until now. But this wasn’t really comfort, though. _Rick_ was the one who was messing with his hair, and Rick didn’t really care about him, so it didn’t count.

He reached up, grabbing ahold of Rick’s writs and pulling his hand away. “Rick...” He said, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Rick slowly pulled his hand away, and Morty finally opened his eyes again.

“Morty, w-when was the last time you slept?” As Rick thought about it, he realized that he hadn’t really seen Morty all that much the past three days at all. It was summertime, so he knew the kid wasn’t off at school. He hadn’t seen him outside of his room at all, not even during meals.

Morty just shrugged.

“T-the last time you ate? Or—or—or showered?” Rick continued his interrogation, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Does it _matter._.. _?”_ Morty squinted up at him.

“Of course it f-fucking matters, dipshit!” Rick narrowed his eyes in response to Morty’s squint. “Y-y-you look like _shit_ Morty.”

“ _Thanks._ “ Morty said sarcastically, rolling his blood-shot eyes. “I-I-I’m aware of m-my shitty appearance, Rick.” The teen spun back around in his desk chair and focused back on his computer screen. He double clicked Crome and it opened up to google search.

“ _Morty!”_ Rick slammed the laptop closed before Morty could continue doing whatever it was that he was doing on it, and the teen jumped, eyes widening in shock for a moment before he gave Rick an annoyed glare. “Y-y-you’re being ridiculous right now. Come with me.” He grabbed Morty’s wrist and yanked him out of the chair and to his feet.

“Stop!” Morty yelped, yanking his wrist out of Rick’s grasp. He clenched his fists at his sides, glaring up at Rick, who was looking down at him with a shocked expression. Morty’d never done something like that before. “J-Just _stop!_ “ He continued, tears overflowing from his eyes and cascading down his cheeks, even through his angered yelling. “S-stop taking me on adventures, stop dragging me around l-like— like I’m a f-fucking _rag-doll!_ Stop bursting into my room at _f-four_ in the morning! A-a-and most importantly, _stop pretending you give a damn about me!_ N-no one else gives a damn! Why should you?!”

Rick’s shock quickly ebbed away into irritation at Morty’s words, and for now, he decided to ignore the tears that were streaming heavily down his grandson’s cheeks. Morty always cried when he got frustrated. “W-what the fuck, Morty? T-there are a _lot_ of people that care about you, l-like Summer, and your mom—“

“—Just shut t-the fuck up, Rick! Y-you don’t know _anything!_ “ He cut Rick off, poking him in the chest with his index finger harshly, causing the older man to take a step back. “Y-y-you weren’t even fucking _there!_ Y-you can’t even— you could _never_ fucking understand it!”

“Understand _what?!”_ Rick had no clue what the hell Morty was talking about.

“Y-y-you weren’t _there!_ “ Morty sobbed, slamming his fists into Rick’s chest. “Y-y-you didn’t see it— s-she _hates_ me, Rick!”

Rick grunted, grabbing ahold of a Morty’s hands to stop the brunette from further hitting him as he continued to messily sob. “W-who?”

“Mom!” He cried, struggling against Rick’s hold. “She— t-the guy— he said—“ Morty couldn’t _breathe._  “He m-made her _choose_ w-who got to l-live, R-Rick, m-me or Summer— and s-she— she didn’t even _blink,_ Rick— she didn’t— didn’t even _h-hesitate.”_ Morty broke off into a loud sob, his chest heaving with the strain.

Realization dawned on Rick, and his eyebrow shot up into his hairline. “...She chose Summer, didn’t she?” He asked, even though he knew the answer already.

He would’ve expected her to, anyway. Morty had always been _his_ and Summer had always been Beth’s. The kids had never been made aware of the whole thing, but him and Beth both knew of that unspoken rule. It had been like that for the past three and a half years, since Rick had first arrived here when Morty was just barely thirteen years old.

Morty let out another sob, and tried to pull away from Rick. He hated this. He hated being here, crying in front of Rick like this. It made him hate himself more. He was so _pathetic._

Rick didn’t let Morty go, holding on to the struggling teen as he tried desperately to free himself from the older man. In a split-second decision, he pulled Morty forward and wrapped his arms around the sixteen-year-old’s shaking form. They slotted together almost perfect, chest to chest— Rick could feel Morty’s heart beating frantically.

Morty gasped, his hands firmly planted against Rick’s chest, half-heartedly trying to push him away. It took his mind a moment to catch up to what was going on at the moment— he couldn’t quite understand what Rick was doing. Rick didn’t just _hug_ people— not unless he intended to get something out of it. The thought made him cry harder, and his legs started shaking, forcing his knees to buckle under him. As he sunk to the floor, Rick went with him.

He pulled Morty closer to him until the teen was practically sitting in his lap, still weakly struggling to get away. After a few moments of just sitting there, Morty couldn’t stand it anymore, and he buried his face into Rick’s chest, his small, shaking hands grasping desperately at his lab coat.

They sat like this for a long time as Morty let it _all_ out— all of the pain that this whole thing had caused him— all of the sadness and despair. They could’ve sat there for minutes, or for hours, but neither of them really caring about the time.

Eventually, Morty’s sobs mellowed out into soft whimpers as the kid completely wore himself out. He was _so tired._

He hadn’t slept or ate or showered in days, and he was just _so exhausted._

“I w-would’ve picked you,” Rick said suddenly and quietly, and Morty could feel the vibrations in the man’s chest. “I would’ve picked you a-a hundr— a thousand times, Morty. I would’ve never picked anyone else over you. _Never.”_

Morty curled further into Rick, whimpering softly.

“S-screw Beth,” He continued, rubbing circles into Morty’s back in a way that he hoped was comforting. “S-she’s— she’s stupid, Morty. Screw her, and Summer, too. I-It’s just Rick a-an-and Morty against the world, a-alright? W-we don’t need anyone but each other, alright, Morty? Just you and I. E-everyone else is— is— is stupid. We—we don’t need ‘em.”

Morty nodded into him, sniffling slightly. Maybe Rick really did care.

But Morty wasn’t worth it...

Rick reached up and threaded his hand through Morty’s hair, while holding him close with the other. “Summer w-was always Beth’s, Morty. And you’ve always been mine. I-I-I know I was k-kinda late... I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner. But I’m here now, a-and I will _never_ leave you behind. Not like Beth did.”

“I-I’m not worth it, Rick...” Morty croaked out weakly, his voice rough from crying.

“Morty, I-if anyone’s not worth it, it’s me.” Rick sighed, resting his chin on Morty’s head. “But, you’ve stuck with me through these past few years, e-e-even though I’m the biggest asshole in the universe... trust me, Morty, you’re w-worth everything to me.”

Morty choked out a sad but amused laugh, and he angled himself to look up at Rick. “A-are you even m-my Rick?” He asked rhetorically. “Y-y-you’re being un-uncharacteristically nice...”

Rick chuckled awkwardly, an embarrassed blush dusting over his cheeks. “Shut up, Morty.”

Morty smirked and then buried his face back into Rick’s chest. “T-thanks, Rick, y-y-you’re worth everything to me as well...”

 

It was Rick and Morty against the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! XD
> 
> Also, sorry for any grammatical errors. I kinda rushed it, and it’s like 2am so... yeah.


End file.
